Re: Going, going, GUCs!

David Fetter <david@fetter.org> wrote:
> I'd like to see about removing the following GUCs:
> sql_inheritance (should be on)
I'd rather see that stay, so that I can make sure it's off.  That
said, we have other ways to enforce shop policy on this, if need be.
> track_counts (should be on)
I believe we found a slight performance benefit to turning this off
for bulk loads (during which we also turn off autovacuum).  We finish
the process by running VACUUM FREEZE ANALYZE on the database and
restoring the normal postgresql.conf file (with these on).  A minimal
hit on bulk load operations wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd
rather avoid it.
> transform_null_equals (should probably be off)
If we're eliminating the GUC, it *better* be treated as off; otherwise
a lot of code written to the SQL specification will be broken.
The others don't matter much to me, personally; but I wonder why you
are pushing this in the face of the concurrent threads, where the
consensus seems to be that there is not much to be gained by
eliminating these, and risk of problems.  What makes the GUCs on you
list worth expending the effort?  (I'd say that each one merits
separate justification.)
-Kevin